A statewide outbreak of the West Nile virus has claimed its first El Pasoan -- a 77-year-old man -- local health officials confirmed Wednesday.

Armando Saldivar, spokesman for the El Paso Department of Public Health, said the city was notified Wednesday that the man's death was caused by the West Nile virus.

The man's name was not released. He lived in the 79915 ZIP code, which includes most of the neighborhoods in the Bel Air-Riverside high-school area in the Lower Valley.

It is also unknown how or where the man got the virus.

The number of West Nile cases in El Paso is now 13, after four new cases were discovered in the past week.

The most cases confirmed in El Paso's history is 28 in 2010. There were 21 cases in 2009 and 24 in 2008.

REPORTER

Aaron Bracamontes

Last year, there were only five confirmed cases in El Paso, Saldivar said.

The worst year was 2007, when four people died in El Paso from the West Nile virus.

Statewide, Texas leads the country this year in West Nile deaths. Almost half of the country's confirmed deaths of neuroinvasive West Nile, the worst form of the illness, have been found in Texas.

Federal officials said there have been at least 87 deaths around the country this year, as well as at least 1,069 neuroinvasive cases and 924 non-neuroinvasive West Nile cases, The Associated Press reported.

On Wednesday Texas Department of State Health Services Commissioner David Lakey said at least 43 people in Texas have died from the virus and at least 510 cases of neuroinvasive West Nile have been reported around the state.

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Texas health officials have called the breakout of West Nile the worst in Texas history.

Before this year, the previous record of cases in Texas was in 2003, when the state reported 439 cases of neuroinvasive West Nile and 40 deaths.

In New Mexico, 14 cases have been reported, including five in Doña Ana County.

Cities around Texas have been spraying reservoirs and other water areas to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.

In El Paso, the city Environmental Services Department has been spraying a mixture of 97 percent mineral oil into reservoirs to help prevent West Nile.

The mixture prevents mosquito larvae from getting oxygen, thereby killing them before hatching.

"Trying to control the adult mosquito population is something we do all year round," said El Paso environmental services spokeswoman Tammy Fonce-Olivas. "Right now we are doing more because of the West Nile threat and because of the rainy season."

Mosquitoes breed more when there is water left over from rain, Fonce-Olivas said.

The West Nile virus is usually transmitted by mosquitoes that have been infected, said the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Once the virus infects a human, it can weaken muscles, potentially leading to brain damage or death. At the least it can cause flu-like symptoms.